


Kidnapped. Jealous. Intrigued.

by radioactivesaltghoul



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Crack Treated Seriously, Multi, OT3, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Reylux - Freeform, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-15
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-03-19 04:31:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 15,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13696914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radioactivesaltghoul/pseuds/radioactivesaltghoul
Summary: When Hux kidnaps Rey to get Kylo Ren’s attention, he doesn’t count on accidentally letting his motives for said kidnapping slip. Three shots of whiskey later...





	1. Drinking buddies

**Author's Note:**

> I am far from an expert on the SW universe, so please let me know if I've made any glaring errors that need corrected.
> 
> Also, if there's a reference to a past event that doesn't sound canon, that's because it's from [something I wrote](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13183443/chapters/30154818) \- this started off as an "alternate ending" for [something else I wrote](http://archiveofourown.org/works/13373175), but I split it off because it grew into its own thing because I can't get reylux out of my head. (It should be self-contained enough to read without the other stuff if you don't want to wade through pure reylo stuff.)

This was _not_ how Rey had planned on spending her day. She had woken up in a jail cell on a First Order ship with only a vague memory of having her coffee spiked in a diner on Delrian. At first it had seemed like a weird joke of Ben’s, but then she realized that he’d had nothing to do with it--it was the fault of the red-haired general who hated Kylo Ren so much that he started a civil war within the First Order last year after some big First Order celebration that Ben had dragged Rey to in return for leaving the Resistance alone for a little while. (Rey had been pretty pissed off when the Resistance said it was a great bargain, but in the end it had worked out in Rey’s favor; she got to see the civil war break out in the First Order, and she and Ben had finally hooked up. She had definitely kept that last part a secret from her friends, and she and Ben had set up a routine of watching each other get off when they had a chance during their Force bond chats.)

 However, Hux had started said civil war because he was pissed off at Ben for bringing Rey to the big First Order party. Rey had thought that her part in the whole thing was done until today. She didn’t think that she even registered on Hux’s radar, but she had figured out pretty quickly that Hux’s motivation in kidnapping her was to get Ben’s attention because of some unresolved sexual tension. She didn’t think that Ben realized that, though. 

Which brought them to this moment.

“Stop right there,” Hux hissed to Ben, “or I’ll shoot The Fucking Scavenger.”

By some lucky chance, Ben’s ship hadn’t been too far away from where Hux was holding Rey hostage, and thanks to a little Force bond talk, Ben knew where they were before Hux had even contacted him. Meanwhile, Rey had figured out how to break herself out (Hux was either really stupid or he wasn’t trying very hard; she figured it was the latter), and she had made straight for the hangar. Fortunately, Ben arrived in the hangar at the same time she did, running out onto a deck about ten meters up from where Rey was on the floor. Unfortunately, Hux had arrived at the same time and was now holding a blaster to her face. 

“I have a name,” Rey said, trying not to think too hard about the fact that a man driven insane by jealousy was holding a blaster in her direction. The way he said ‘The Fucking Scavenger’ made it sound like it was capitalized, like that was the only name he knew her by. 

“You wouldn’t dare,” Ben said to Hux. 

“Watch me,” Hux said, never taking his eyes off of Rey.

“Why are you doing this?” Ben asked. Rey could feel the tension radiating down the bond. He was afraid to move in case he spooked Hux enough to shoot her, but he couldn’t bear the thought of standing by and just watching.

“Because you brought her to the First Order Anniversary Party when you could have brought me!” Hux yelled.

There was silence as they all processed what Hux had just let slip. Rey felt a barrage of emotions flying at her, but she couldn’t tell which were hers and which were Ben’s. The tension was suddenly so thick, she felt like she needed to take out her lightsaber just to cut a hole for her to breathe.

“You...you never said anything,” Ben said slowly. “I had no idea.”

“Well,” said Hux awkwardly. His face was so red that Rey was almost worried for his health. There was no way it was healthy to be blushing that hard.

_This is probably not a conversation to have in public,_ Rey thought. It was also probably not a conversation for her to be involved in, although she’d have been lying if she said that she didn’t want to know where it went. 

_You’re right,_ Ben said. She hadn’t realized that she was projecting her thoughts.

“Why don’t we go somewhere else to discuss this,” Ben said. “Somewhere private. And please put down the blaster, Hux.”

Hux sighed loudly, but he lowered the weapon. Rey let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

“Get down from there, Ren,” he said, not looking at Ben. “I know you’re dying to jump down dramatically.”

Rey had to hide a grin. Apparently Hux felt the same way about Ben’s theatrics as she did.

“They’re not theatrics,” Ben said as he jumped down gracefully with a little help from the Force. He landed in between Rey and Hux. She wanted to wrap her arms around him--it had been so long since she’d seen him outside of the Force bond--but she was rooted to the floor, unsure of where she fit in with this conversation.

“I never called them that,” Hux said. Rey realized that Hux didn’t know that Ben was replying to something she’d said nonverbally. _He doesn’t know about the bond,_ she thought.

_Let’s keep it that way,_ Ben replied. _It’s none of his business._

When neither Ben nor Rey responded to that, Hux turned with a sigh. “Come on,” he said. “Follow me.”

Ben and Rey exchanged glances. “Both of us?” Ben asked.

“The Fucking Scavenger may as well join us,” Hux said. “Why the hell not. Let’s make this as awkward as possible. I have enough whiskey for the three of us.”

_Is this a good idea?_ Rey asked Ben.

_Probably not,_ he said. _We still need to arrest him, though, and it’ll probably be easier to do that once he’s drunk._

“Are you two coming or what?” asked Hux, turning to look at them. “Let’s go. I need that fucking drink.”

 

* * *

 

What was he thinking, inviting Ren and The Fucking Scavenger back to his rooms to get drunk together? Hux figured he must have hit his head at some point. He didn’t remember doing so, but wasn’t that the problem with head injuries? You hit your head hard enough, and you didn’t remember getting hit. Of course, at this point, it was pretty much “fuck it, this situation can’t get much worse, may as well drink” anyway. His life as he knew it was over. 

There was something weird in the way Ren and The Fucking Scavenger interacted with each other. It was like they had a completely non-verbal way of communicating. Hux figured it was a Force thing. Whatever the fuck the Force was, it made these two fucking perfect for each other. Which made him the odd one out. Which is why he needed that fucking drink. Armitage Hux did _not_ do third-wheeling.

They walked back in silence. Nobody said a word until they were back in Hux’s sitting room and he was pouring three shots of whiskey, all of them cramming in around the tiny table Hux had in his rooms. He never had people join him for meals; the only time other people were in his quarters at all were when they were in his bed. And then he kicked them out as soon as they were finished. There was no time for emotions or attachments when you had to run the First Order’s massive armies.

“You guys can’t possibly be so bad at holding your liquor that you’re afraid to take more shots,” he said. “What, is it some sort of Force thing that means that you can’t drink?”

The Fucking Scavenger snorted. “You have no idea how the Force works, do you?”

“Fuck, no. Nor do I care. Shut up and drink. I’m not having this conversation sober.”

She shrugged, but she did the shot and held out her glass for another. Hux didn’t miss the way Ren’s eyes widened as she did so, nor did he miss the smirk she gave him.

“I bet I could drink both of you under the table,” she said.

“Seriously?” said Hux. “You’re tiny.”

“I don’t think I want to know what you did for fun on Jakku to give you such a built-up alcohol tolerance,” Ren said as he finally took his second shot and held out the glass for more.

They all nursed their third drink in awkward silence. Hux didn’t know where to begin. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking when he’d kidnapped The Fucking Scavenger. It wasn’t planned at all. He just happened to be stopping to beat someone up for a bribe when he spotted her in that diner on Delrian, and he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to antagonize Ren, even if Hux wasn’t actually ready for it. His attempted coup hadn’t ended well, and he had fewer resources than he’d led on. Most of the stormtroopers that had been under his command had jumped ship when they heard about better working conditions on Ren’s half of the First Order.

Well, Ren’s nine-tenths, more like it. The little shit had managed to wrestle 90% of the First Order under his control somehow. Hux was impressed despite himself. He didn’t know Ren had it in him.

“So,” Ren said, breaking the silence.

“So,” said Hux.

“What are we doing here, Hux?” asked Ren.

“Getting drunk,” Hux said, holding up his glass. “Obviously.”

“Yes, but why?”

“Because this is not a conversation to be had sober,” The Fucking Scavenger said, imitating Hux.

“No, it is not,” Hux said, staring down at his glass. “Look, Ren, this is all very confusing for me. You have to understand. There’s always been so much competition between us.”

“What’s confusing about that?” Ren asked.

“It’s confusing because you’re really hot.” Hux definitely would not have said that if he had been sober. But it did have the effect of making Ren’s face turn bright red, so that was a bit satisfying, even if it was a mortifying thing to let slip.

“It’s very confusing when your nemesis turns out to be really hot,” The Fucking Scavenger said.

“I can’t believe we agree on this,” Hux muttered.

“It’s very confusing when you accidentally catch your hot nemesis shirtless,” she continued. Ren choked on his drink.

“I don’t think I want to know what you’re referring to,” said Hux. “But it was a mixed blessing when you finally stopped wearing that stupid helmet. Seriously, did you really not pick up on this? Ever?”

Ren shrugged awkwardly. “I guess I wasn’t paying attention,” he said.

“No, because nothing matters to you except The Fucking Scavenger,” Hux said bitterly.

“Dude,” she said. “I have a name. It’s Rey. Not ‘The Fucking Scavenger.’ Just Rey.”

“You never said anything to me, though,” Ren said. “What right do you have to be mad at me when you never said anything?”

“I tried,” Hux said weakly.

“When?”

“That time we got drunk and watched old Death Star footage.”

“Oh,” said Ren slowly. “That explains a lot.”

“What happened that time you got drunk and watched old Death Star footage?” The Fucking Sca-- _Rey_ asked, interested.

“Nothing happened,” said Hux. “That’s the point.”

She snorted. Hux got the sense that it had something to do with the look Ren gave her. He was getting that sense of being left out of a conversation again. Were all Force-users this creepy, or was it just them?

“What did you want to happen?” asked Rey.

Images started to flood Hux’s mind. He was drunk enough to start losing his filter. “Do you really want to know?” he asked.

“Definitely,” said Rey at the same time that Ren said “Yes.”

“Can’t you just read my mind with your Force stuff?” he said. He may have been drunk enough to overshare, but he was still sober enough to feel hesitant to completely open up about the details of his numerous sexual fantasies starring Kylo Ren.

“It doesn’t quite work like that,” said Ren. “You have to tell us what you want.”

“What I want?” Hux looked down at his drink. He realized how close they were all sitting to each other. With three people crowded around a table meant for one, there wasn’t a lot of space left. So, really, there was only one thing left to do at this point. And anyway, Hux was out of fucks to give about his life.

He looked back up and met Rey’s eyes, then Ren’s. “Fuck it,” he said as he leaned over and kissed Ren.

 

* * *

 

Kylo was starting to think that maybe the alcohol wasn’t such a good idea, because there was no way that he or any of them would have actually admitted to any of this if they had been more sober.

Hux tasted like whiskey, anger, and despair. It was not the best combination. Not that Kylo had a lot to compare it to; Rey was the only other person he’d ever kissed as an adult (playing “spin the lightsaber” as a teenager didn’t count), and there was nothing that could come even close to making him feel the way that she did. But he had to admit, there _was_ something...interesting about kissing Hux. Hux kissed Kylo almost like he was angry about it, which was weird. What was even weirder was that Kylo liked it. _Maybe he’s onto something with this whole hatefucking thing,_ he found himself thinking.

But Rey...Kylo had assumed there would be an onslaught of jealousy from her at this. He knew he would be incredibly jealous if he were her. And there was a little bit of jealousy, yes. But it was mostly overshadowed by amusement and...what? Of all things, Rey was _turned on_ by this! Why?

_Well, he isn’t bad-looking when he’s actually acting like a human being,_ he heard Rey think. _I could do two people at once. Haven’t you ever thought about it?_

That snapped him out of it. He pulled back a little bit, and Hux sat back in his seat and shrugged. “I had to try,” he said. He was trying to act oh-so-cool about it, like he wasn’t even a little bit hurt by Kylo’s rejection, but it didn’t take a Force user to see how upset Hux was.

Kylo looked over at Rey to see her reaction. “Don’t stop on my account,” she said as she finished her drink.

Hux whipped his head around, almost as if he’d forgotten that she was sitting there. “What do you--” His eyes widened as it hit him. “You...don’t mind? I’m, like, trying to make a move on your boyfriend, and you’re sitting _right there._ ”

Rey shrugged. “I’m pretty sure I’m secure enough in our relationship to know where he and I stand.

_Are you?_ Kylo asked silently.

_It would be rude to say this to him when he’s already acting so sad, but I am very, very,_ very _certain you won’t abandon me for him,_ she replied. _And I would never, ever,_ ever _abandon you. Especially not for_ him.

“And where is that?” Hux asked, turning to look back at Kylo.

Kylo shrugged, not sure what to say. Rey was right; it _would_ be rude to third-wheel Hux. Not when they were drinking his whiskey and sitting in his quarters. But...were they really going there with this conversation? Not that anything in his life had ever been normal, but this was really pushing it, even by his standards.

“I’m not going to leave Rey for you,” he settled on. “If that’s what you’re wondering.”

Hux snorted. “I don’t love you. Hell, I don’t even _like_ you 90% of the time. It’s just sex. That’s all. A good hatefuck, just because why not, my life is already a disaster, maybe I can at least finally fuck the coworker I’ve secretly been into for the past few years.”

Kylo raised his eyebrows. Hux was looking down, refusing to make eye contact with either of them, leading Kylo to suspect that it was actually a little more than that. Fortunately for everyone involved, he was too distracted to follow that train of thought any further by the fact that Hux wanted to have sex with him, and Rey wanted to have sex with _both_ of them. At the same time.

“You are not building a very good case for yourself,” said Rey as she poured them all another round.

“Why are you okay with any of this?” Hux asked, turning to glare at her.

Rey shrugged. “I’m curious, and I haven’t gotten laid in ages, and I’m not sure I’ll ever have another opportunity to have sex with two people at once. Although,” she said, putting her drink down to look at Hux, “that’s assuming you want me around. I know he does. What about you?”

On some level, Kylo was jealous. Rey was his, and his alone. But he couldn’t deny how much he enjoyed watching her taunt Hux. It always turned him on that she could be this open about her sexuality because it was something just for him, and because he was the complete opposite. Living with a creepy, abusive mentor figure that was constantly monitoring his brain had left him with a sense of shame regarding his sexuality, and as it turned out, it was extremely difficult to overcome decades of abuse and manipulation. Go figure.

Also, Kylo would do pretty much anything at this point to get Rey naked. She was right, it _had_ been ages. A whole year since they’d had actual sex. Watching each other over the Force bond was hot, but it wasn’t the same.

Alcohol was one hell of a drug, if it let them all confess things like this.

Hux looked her up and down. “I don’t usually go for women,” he confessed. “But I might be willing to make an exception for you. If _he_ likes you, you must be pretty damn special. He doesn’t like anyone.”

Was this conversation actually happening? He hadn’t even realized how much he wanted this. Hux was right, there _had_ been sexual tension between them for a long time. Kylo just hadn’t had the experience to pick up on it, and after he met Rey, things had quickly gone to shit within the First Order, so he wasn’t around Hux enough to notice it anyway.

“He’s not so bad himself,” Rey said, grinning at Kylo. “He’s pretty good with his tongue.” She sent a couple of images down the bond for emphasis, and smiled as she felt the way they made him harden a little bit.

“This is weird enough as it is,” Kylo said as he took another drink. “Please don’t talk about me like I’m not here, especially as you are my enemy, and you are discussing fucking my girlfriend.”

Hux shrugged. “I’d much rather fuck you,” he said. “No offense, scavenger.”

“None taken,” she said.“But I _am_ open to fucking both of you. Just throwing that out there.” _It would be so much fun to watch him react to having sex with a woman for the first time if he was okay with that,_ she thought.

_You have the weirdest kinks._

_You love it. I can feel how turned on by this you are._

She had a point. At some point the idea of watching them together, or the idea of him and Rey taking on Hux in the bedroom, had really started to turn him on. He didn’t know when it had happened.

“Oh, she could take it,” Kylo found himself saying. “She can go all night long. Trust me.”

_That_ was _a great night,_ she said.

_The best of my life._

“Look,” Rey said, putting down her drink. She started to unwrap her arm wraps. “I need a shower. I woke up strapped to the wall in a cell--which I don’t appreciate, by the way, you dick--so here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to go take a shower. Open invitation to join me. Or not, whatever. You two make up your mind about this. You know my thoughts on the matter.” _No matter what,_ she added silently to Kylo, _you and I are long overdue for a very long night in which neither of us will get much sleep._

_Abso-fucking-lutely,_ he replied. _You gorgeous, mindblowingly sexy, powerful, crazy woman._

She stood up, leaving her arm wraps in a pile on the table. Her shoulders weren’t any darker than the rest of her arms. The Resistance must have been hiding out on a colder planet, Kylo realized. She winked at him and blew a kiss at Hux before walking off in the direction of the washroom. She didn’t bother to fully close the door behind her, and Kylo could catch glimpses of her body as she took off her clothes. He knew she was doing in on purpose, and he had to grip the table in order to resist the urge to follow her.

There was an awkward silence. “Your girlfriend is crazy,” Hux said as he took another sip of his whiskey.

“I love her,” Kylo said. “She left a scar on my face and I still love her. I think I’m just as crazy as she is.”

“We are all crazy for even considering this idea,” Hux said, gesturing to the table around them. “And also, the scar is kind of hot.”

Kylo didn’t know how to respond to that, so he just said “Thanks, I think.”

“Did you really not notice the way I feel about you? I thought you could read minds. I thought you were going to find out a thousand times, because it was so difficult not to think about fucking you some days. Or you fucking me. Both. Either. Whatever.”

Kylo gave a short laugh. “It doesn’t work like that,” he said. “And anyway, you’re so paranoid that it’s probably not worth the effort to break through your mental shields.”

“It probably doesn’t help that Snoke always kept you on such a short leash,” Hux said quietly.

Kylo froze. How much did Hux know about the way that Snoke had invaded Kylo’s mind for most of his life?

“Yes,” Kylo said, trying to add a ‘this is not open for discussion’ tone to the word.

“And--” Hux said. Kylo really didn’t want to talk about it. So he did the thing that Rey did when she didn’t want to talk about deep, emotional things with him: he grabbed Hux’s face and pulled him in for another kiss.

 

* * *

 

It was the nicest shower she’d been in in a long time. Living in between ships and hidden bases wasn’t exactly the most glamorous way to live, and they didn’t always have access to real showers. But she felt weird about using any of the soaps in there (who knew that Hux had so many hair products? _Why_ did he have so many hair products?) because she didn’t want to smell like him. This whole venture was a bit risky given the fact that she and Ben were possibly (hopefully) about to jump into bed with someone who had been, up until an hour ago, actively trying to hurt them. She didn’t need Ben to get jealous about the fact that she smelled like someone else’s soap. That seemed like the kind of oddly specific thing he would have a hard time with.

And speaking of hard...she knew how badly Ben wanted to get up and join her in the shower, third-wheeling Hux be damned. Hell, she knew how badly _she_ wanted Ben to get up and join her in the shower, third-wheeling Hux be damned. She had been content with the voyeuristic Force bond sex they had, but now that she and Ben were actually together again, she couldn’t believe how much it paled in comparison to the real thing.

Force, she’d missed him so much.

It wasn’t a surprise to her that there was some long-standing sexual tension between Ben and Hux that Ben had completely missed out on. He was so hyperfocused on everything else in his life, and it had probably never occurred to him that the way they were always at each other’s throats was the result of some unresolved sexual tension. She had always figured that there was something more to their competitiveness. Now she knew what it was.

And it wasn’t like she’d never imagined being with two people at once before. Sure, part of it was definitely out of some sense of ‘if people desire me, then they won’t abandon me’ that she’d developed as a teenager, but a lot of it was just curiosity. She hadn’t been ready for it when the opportunity had presented itself on Jakku once all those years ago, but she sure as hell was ready now.

She didn’t like prying into Ben’s thoughts, but she wanted to know what was going on out there. She had heard them talking while she undressed, but she couldn’t hear anything over the noise of the shower. She shut off the spray and shivered, her nipples peaking against the sudden cold. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself and tried to listen to what was going on outside. She didn’t hear them talking. That was either be very good or very bad.

“Have you two made up your minds or--” she said as she walked out of the bathroom. She stopped when she saw her answer. Just kissing, but neither of them was wearing a jacket anymore, and Ben’s shirt was off (of course; she didn’t know why she expected any different). “Guess that’s a yes,” she murmured as she walked towards the table, still wrapped in the towel. No use putting her clothes back on if they were just going to come off again.

There was a part of her brain that was curious about technique. One of the downsides to both of them being so inexperienced was that they didn’t always have a lot of past experiences to draw on. Hux definitely didn’t have that problem, and Rey looked at the way he dragged his teeth over Ben’s collarbone. Judging from Ben’s reaction--which was echoing in her body--he was into that. _Good to know._

“Am I interrupting?” she asked. They broke apart and Ben smiled at her. As much as he’d obviously been enjoying himself, the way he looked her up and down sent sparks shooting down her body. She didn’t miss the way that Hux looked at her. It was a look that was a little more calculating than lustful, but she figured that was probably the best she’d get out of him.

“Not at all,” Ben breathed. “Join us.”

She slid onto Ben’s lap and kissed him to let him know that if he felt uncomfortable about this at any point, she would stop, and then she grabbed Hux’s collar to pull him closer so that she could kiss him instead. Hux seemed a little surprised at first, and a little awkward. Almost like the way that Ben had kissed her that first time. She supposed it was mostly that Hux hadn’t kissed many women. Surely he’d been curious, though? Everyone in space was queer. Everyone knew that.

One of Ben’s hands was wrapped around her hip, holding her in place, and the other was wrapped around her back, his fingernails dragging lightly over the bare skin of her back. He kissed her neck before moving his lips up to tug on her earlobe with his teeth. Hux moved his hand awkwardly up so that he was gripping her upper arm, and he hissed as she bit down on his lip. It was strange kissing someone without the Force bond feedback loop, and it was even stranger that the other end of said Force bond feedback loop was now sucking on her neck and enjoying the hell out of the situation as much as she was.

_This is an awkward position for three people to sit in. Time to move this show along._ She pulled away from Hux and stood up, letting the towel drop to the floor. She couldn’t keep a wicked grin from her face as she saw the way Hux looked her up and down ( _He’s definitely into this,_ she thought, _despite whatever he said about not liking women_ ), and she felt Ben’s reaction echo through her core without even having to look at him. _Fucking finally,_ she heard him think. _You’re naked._

“You’re both wearing too much clothing,” she said. “Catch up.”

Yeah, there was no way in hell she’d be confident enough to act like this completely sober.

If they hadn’t been so full of pent-up sexual frustration, it never would have worked. It took a certain level of sexually frustrated to hit the point where you didn’t care how awkward something is, as long as it got you off. And given their collective lack of experience--Hux had never been with a woman, Ben had never been with a man, and none of them had ever been in a threesome--it was pretty awkward at first.

Weirdly, Rey found that that made it even hotter to know how desperate they all were to get each other off. Of course, it probably helped that she was the one running the show--it turned out that Hux was even less dominant than Ben was--but there was something incredibly hot about long-standing sexual tension finally getting resolved, even if it wasn’t her sexual tension. The desperation had been driving Hux and Ben so crazy for so long that it had spilled over into Rey’s thoughts, courtesy of the Force bond, and the tension between Ben and Rey was almost equally as strong at that point.

(And anyway, a threesome was on her bucket list. She’d had a _lot_ of lonely nights on Jakku to think about things like that. Have sex for the first time? Check. Mutual masturbation? Check. Threesome? Check.)

There was one other detail that she had never considered. There was a strange sense of disconnection she felt about Hux’s involvement. Having the Force bond with Ben meant that they were automatically in sync. Sure, they verbalized plenty, but they could have entire conversations without needing to speak. It was such a deep level of intimacy that it scared her when she thought too much about it (and she didn’t think about it if she could help it). But the Force bond added an interesting dynamic to the threesome from her perspective. She knew exactly what was going through Ben’s head as he watched her fuck Hux. (She had been right; it _was_ interesting to see Hux react to having sex with a woman for the first time, and she could tell that Ben was surprised by how much he liked watching Rey fuck Hux.) And she knew everything that was going through Ben’s head as _he_ fucked Hux. (Which was hotter than she had expected it to be, if she was being honest.) They would never _ever_ be repeating this, which was something that she knew Ben agreed on completely, but this was such a wild, hot, once-in-a-lifetime experience that she was glad they hadn’t passed it up.

After, as they all collapsed into a sweaty, sated, sleepy pile on the bed, she couldn’t help but feel like this was the best possible outcome of a day that had started with waking up in a First Order prison cell.

 

* * *

 

Hux blinked his eyes open. Why did his head hurt so much? And who the _fuck_ was in his bed with him? He turned his head just enough so that he could look over to see who was spooning him, praying that he wouldn’t wake up the other person. He hated waking up with someone in his bed. Spooning was far too emotional for a man like Armitage Hux. 

He caught sight of the scars on the other man’s hand, and everything came rushing back to him. _Holy kriffing shit_ , he thought. _I got drunk and had a threesome with Ren and his weird Jedi girlfriend._ He nearly burst out in hysterical laughter at the absurdity of the situation. Who ever would have thought that _this_ would happen? _Guess I’m less gay than I thought,_ he realized as he started to remember some of the details. Ren getting jealous over Hux fucking Rey was so satisfying, even if it had (sort of) been Ren’s idea, and Hux had to admit that she was good in bed. He was definitely starting to see what Ren saw in her.

But there was no time to ponder all of those little details now. Hux needed to get the fuck out of there before they woke up so that he could run away and a) resist arrest and b) try to pretend that this had never happened.

Or there was option C...kill Kylo Ren and The Fucking Scavenger (ha, literally) before they woke up so that no one ever had to know about this little venture and Hux could go off and hide in shame for giving into his weakness for Kylo Ren for the rest of his days. He normally slept with a blaster under his pillow (one could never be too careful when one was the leader of the _rightful_ faction of a civil war), but judging from the complete disarray in which things were in the bed (oh Force, was that a _condom_ stuck to the headboard?), he doubted that the blaster was anywhere near him. No matter. There had to be one around here somewhere. Just as long as he could carefully wiggle his way out of Ren’s arms before he or The Fucking Scavenger woke up.

Hux slowly pulled himself out of Ren’s arms, on hyper alert for signs that Ren had woken up. But his breathing remained slow and steady, and he didn’t seem to care that Hux was trying to get as far away from him as possible. Hux wasn’t sure why he felt a little hurt by that. He didn’t care about Ren, now that he’d finally gotten what he wanted. Hadn’t he?

_Focus, Armitage._ Right. The blaster. Killing these two. Although...it felt rude to kill them after they’d had so much fantastic sex. He’d have to set the blaster on ‘stun,’ not ‘kill.’ And then he would abandon ship with what little was left of his dignity.

_And shower,_ he thought as he ran his hand through his completely disheveled hair. _A long, cold shower._

He turned to look back at the two people sleeping in his bed. Ren had been in the middle of a Hux-and-Rey sandwich. She looked tiny in comparison to him, her face buried between his shoulder blades with her arm wrapped around his waist. They looked almost...no, he wasn’t going to go there. He refused to stoop so low as to think about how _cute_ they looked together.

He spotted the blaster lying under a pile of clothing. He turned to look back at the bed, just to check one last time that they were still asleep, then he dived down as quickly as his hangover would allow to pull the blaster from under the pile of clothes. He spun to point it at Ren, and then--

“Seriously, Hux?” Ren groaned sleepily. “Are you really going to try to kill us right now?”

“I was just--” Hux said as Ren raised his hand and pushed the blaster out of Hux’s grip using the Force. “How do you do that without even opening your eyes?” Hux said.

“Hux,” Ren said slowly. “I will Force choke you if you try to kill either one of us again while we are all naked.”

Force choking. That was something that Hux hadn’t been drunk enough to mention last night. Thank the stars. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to live with the embarrassment of knowing that he’d told Ren exactly how much he liked being Force choked.

“You can’t seriously expect me to not do anything to you guys,” Hux said weakly.

“I can, and I will,” said Ren.

Rey laughed softly. Hux hated how much he liked the sound of it. Gross, was he...did he... _like_ her now? It was bad enough that he’d suffered years of frustratingly unacknowledged sexual tension with Kylo Ren, and it still didn’t feel like he’d completely gotten it out of his system. Now he was going to deal with it from his girlfriend, too?

Life was so unfair.

“You boys are a riot,” she said as she pushed herself up. Ren reached up to grab her hand, and she leaned down and kissed his cheek. “Do you have anything to eat?” she asked Hux. “I’m starving.”

“How are you not hungover right now?” asked Hux. “You had so much to drink last night.”

“When you grow up on a desert planet, you develop a high tolerance for dehydration,” she said. “And that’s all a hangover is.” She pushed herself and stretched her arms over her head and groaned. The sound of it made something flutter in Hux’s stomach. He couldn’t help but admire her body, and the memory of what it felt like to touch her came rushing back to him. Yeah, he was definitely less gay than he thought. _I would definitely fuck her again,_ he found himself thinking. The thought was disconcerting.

“My girlfriend, the Jedi who can drink us all under the table,” Ren mumbled as he pushed himself up behind her, leaning over to kiss her neck. She smiled, then turned to kiss him. Hux started to feel uncomfortable. He didn’t do this morning after shit. And he didn’t have any part in their relationship. Did he?

Just for something to do, Hux knelt down to rummage through the pile of clothes, looking for trousers to put on.

“What a wild night, huh?” Rey said, surprising Hux.

“I’m prepared to never think about this again,” he said.

Rey laughed again. “Oh, this was definitely a one-time thing,” she said. “Ugh. There are condom wrappers everywhere. I’m impressed by our collective stamina.”

Hux felt his face heat up. “Ren wasn’t lying when he said you could go all night,” he said, trying to sound much cooler than he felt.

“You’re not bad yourself,” Ren said. Hux found himself stupidly surprised for the second time in that conversation.

“Was that...a compliment?” Rey asked, saving Hux from having to respond.

“It’s never going to happen again,” said Ren, pushing himself forward off of the bed. “I need a shower,” he said as he knelt down to grab his trousers. “Don’t kill each other while I’m gone.”

“I can take care of myself,” said Rey as Hux said “No promises.”

After a moment of awkward silence, Rey stood up, wrapping the sheet around her as she did so. “I don’t think any of my clothes are in here,” she said. “Don’t plot to kill us while I go look for them.”

And then Hux was left alone, still trying to process the situation. Yes, he _should_ kill them, but...that led back to his earlier thought that it was weird to kill people who he’d just spent a fantastic night with, even if he didn’t want to admit how fantastic it was.

_Not the time,_ he told himself as everything started to hit him. Now was not the time to panic. First things first: get cleaned up. Kick Ren out of his washroom. Or see if Ren would let him join. Hux supposed that that was an option. But then Rey might want to join, and his shower wasn’t all that big, and anyway, they’d all agreed that it was just a one-time thing. Right. Better to wait. Wait and plot.

 

* * *

 

What had they been thinking, getting drunk with Hux? The implications of that decision really started to hit Kylo as his mind started to clear while in the shower. That had been a terrible decision to begin with. And then what they decided to do after… Rey was right: this was _definitely_ a one-time thing. They’d get cleaned up, they’d arrest Hux, and then he and Rey could go back and hole up in his room for a while. Just the two of them. As it should be. Not that he hadn’t enjoyed himself last night, but...now that he’d finally resolved that sexual tension that he had been previously unaware had existed, that was out of his system. (It _was_ out of his system, wasn’t it?)

He turned the water as hot at he could stand and stepped in. How the kriff was he going to explain this? Surely his officers were wondering what had happened to him. He had just disappeared on the ship and then radio silence for who knows how long it had been since he had left his ship yesterday. They’d have to talk about it to get their story straight. Nobody needed to know that they’d spent the night drinking and fucking.

He shut the water off, and jumped as he heard the door to the washroom open. “It’s me,” Rey said, walking in wrapped in a sheet. “I think I left my clothes in here last night.”

“They’re over there,” Kylo said, pointing towards a pile of tan and brown clothing next to the sink. He turned to see her staring at him and he smirked. “Admiring the view?”

“You have no idea,” she said, dropping the sheet as she stepped towards him. “I don’t think I could ever get enough of you,” she murmured as she ran her hands over his chest and abs. His stomach fluttered at the touch of her fingertips on his skin. _This is not the time or the place,_ her touch seemed to say, _but when this is all over, we are long overdue for some quality time. Alone. Without clothes._ He kissed her, unable to keep himself from wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. She responded in turn, reaching around his waist to run her fingers along his back. He pulled away from her lips to trail kisses down her neck, and then--

Rey pulled away suddenly. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Kylo strained his ears, but he couldn’t hear anything other than the deep hum of the ship.

“It sounded like a door…” She trailed off as something occurred to her. “Where is Hux?”

They both looked at each other, mirroring expressions of alarm. “It’s too quiet out there,” Kylo said.

The implications of that statement hit them both at the same time and they sprung apart and scrambled back into the now-empty bedroom.

“Oh kriff,” Rey said. “He’s gone.”

“He can’t be gone,” Kylo said. “That man is obsessive about his appearance. There’s _no way_ he would set foot outside these rooms looking like he did when he woke up.” Not that he’d ever admit it, but seeing a completely disheveled morning-after Hux had done some funny things to Kylo’s stomach. Good funny things. There was something oddly endearing about seeing Hux without all of the strict precision he normally conducted himself with. (But of course, then the jackass just _had_ to ruin it by trying to kill Kylo and Rey.)

“Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think you do,” Rey said. “Or maybe a year apart changed him.”

“Maybe,” Kylo said distractedly as he left the bedroom to look for clues as to where Hux had gone in the rest of the suite.

There was no sign of Hux (or his blaster) in the room, but they did find a piece of paper with a note on it. (Hux’s handwriting was impressive, but Kylo was satisfied to know that it was nowhere near as good as his.)

 

_Ren and The Fucking Scavenger--_

  _Thanks for third-wheeling me in the shower; it gave me the chance to sneak out. If you utter a word of this to anyone, you will both die. As far as I’m concerned, last night never happened._

_\--A. Hux_

_PS - The only reason I’m sparing your lives is that it’s rude to kill people you just had fantastic sex with._

 

“That ass,” Rey said. “I _know_ he knows my name. He was screaming it last night." 

“You aren’t concerned about the fact that he just snuck out because we couldn’t keep our hands off each other?” Kylo said, putting the note aside to look at Rey.

“Well, yeah,” she said. “Obviously. But he can’t have gotten far. Get dressed. I bet we can catch up to him.”

 

* * *

 

Rey didn’t know what was more surprising, the fact that Hux had admitted that the sex was fantastic, or the fact that she and Ben weren’t disputing that. She wasn’t going to admit this aloud to Ben, but she would actually be okay if it weren’t just a one-time thing. True, Hux was a terrible human being, but it wasn’t like you had to _like_ the people you had sex with. (That was how it worked, right?)

However, none of that mattered if they never saw him again. And right now, it was looking like they were never going to see him again.

Ben had a much better idea of where Hux had gone than Rey did, so she ended up following him around the ship. Unfortunately, they were too late; they got to the hangar just in time to see a ship leaving that could only be Hux’s, judging from the trail of dead stormtroopers. _So there_ were _other people on this ship after all,_ she thought. _Unless they were Ben’s--_

“They weren’t mine,” Ben said as he scrambled for his comm. “Kriff. I haven’t checked in since--” He turned the comm on and was instantly hit with a barrage of notifications.

“Supreme Leader,” a voice called from the comm. “What’s the status of your infiltration of the rouge starship? Do you need backup?” The voice faded as if the speaker had stepped away from the comm for a moment, but left it on. “You guys, what should I do? He’s not answering his comms. There’s no protocol in place for this.”

“Leave it,” said another voice. “He’s probably fine. He didn’t become Supreme Leader for nothing. It’s a big-ass ship. He’s probably just chasing the former General around it. Pass me the bong, will you?”

“Are they…?” Rey asked, unable to believe her ears. “Are they _smoking_ on the command bridge? Where the hell did they even get weed?”

Ben sighed and rolled his eyes. “They’re only supposed to be smoking in designated areas,” he said. “And the command bridge is definitely _not_ one of them.” He turned on the comm and said, “You idiots better not be smoking on the command bridge again.”

“Again?” Rey mouthed, eyebrows raised.

“S-supreme Leader!” the first speaker said. Rey heard a noise as he scrambled to pick up the comm. “Is your Supreme Leadership okay, sir?”

“We’re fine,” Ben said, glancing at Rey.

“What happened?”

_Kriff,_ Rey thought. _We never discussed what we were going to tell them._

“We hunted for signs of former General Hux on the ship, but he must have given us the slip. All that’s left of him is a pile of dead stormtroopers.” _Does that sound plausible?_ Ben asked Rey silently.

_Not very flattering on our parts,_ she said, _but plausible enough._

“And the scavenger?”

“I have retrieved the scavenger,” Ben said. “She will be returning with me to the ship. Send in some troops to clean up and check for any remaining defecting stormtroopers and commanders. I will be returning shortly.” He shut off the comm without waiting for a response.

“‘She will be returning with me’?” Rey asked.

“We agreed on spending some quality time together,” Ben said. “What did you think that meant?”

He had a point. “I don’t have good memories associated with First Order ships,” she said wryly.

“Well,” said Ben, pulling her in so that he could wrap his arms around her. “We’ll just have to change that, won’t we?”

She smiled at him, then kissed him. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go make good on that promise.”

 


	2. Of all the gin joints

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite all their talk of “this is a one-time thing,” Kylo, Rey, and Hux all coincidentally end up at the same seedy bar on Coruscant one night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I’ve had this written for like two months, but I was going back and forth on whether to make it super smutty (mostly because writing smut is really challenging for me and I like a challenge). But it’s just not working itself into this chapter, and I want to get it posted. I do have a little more of this planned/written (and I could end up writing smut for it later on), but it's taken a back seat while I work on a slowburn reylo fic, ["Down the AU Rabbit Hole."](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13982946/chapters/32194368)

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Kylo turned around and grinned at the speaker. “Of all the gin joints on all the planets in all the galaxy, you walk into this one,” he said.

Rey grinned back, as if they hadn’t arranged this meeting. Sure, they were both _technically_ still on opposite sides of a war, but considering the First Order’s main objectives at the moment were “hunting down Hux” and “self-improvement,” the fact that the Resistance was still technically their enemy didn’t mean much these days.

(Come to think of it, the Resistance had very similar goals as the First Order had: make sure that Hux and other war criminals were caught and put to trial, and then try to improve the quality of life everywhere in the galaxy.)

So what if they _technically_ shouldn’t have been meeting? It wasn’t like there was a paper trail of comms and messages between them. No one had to know that they both just _happened_ to conveniently end up on Coruscant in the same seedy bar at the same time. Besides, wasn’t cooperation between the First Order and the Resistance only going to benefit everyone in the end? That was what Rey and Kylo kept telling themselves as they made plans to meet up in secret.

Kylo wondered if the sense of awe, lust, and love would ever stop hitting him like a sledgehammer when he looked at Rey. Even before she’d walked into the seedy bar where they’d arranged to meet (“No one from either the First Order or the Resistance would be caught dead there,” Kylo had explained), he felt his heartbeat pick up as she neared him. Maybe he couldn’t pinpoint exactly where in the galaxy she was, but he always knew when she was close. (Sometimes he wondered if he’d still have that sense without the Force bond. He loved her so much that he was pretty sure that he still would.)

She walked towards him, and Kylo felt a sudden jolt of anxiety. What was their stance on PDA? They had never discussed it. Yes, picking her up and taking her on the bar was probably inappropriate (even though it was a bit tempting), but was he supposed to, like, hold her hand? This was the first time they’d ever met somewhere outside of a battle or the Force bond, and it felt weird to be doing something so...normal.

Apparently, Rey was having the same thoughts, because she paused for a split second just out of arm’s reach of Kylo. “This is weird,” she said. _We’ve never met under these conditions,_ she added silently.

“What, pretending we’re normal people?” he said, trying to make a joke. _Normal, non-strong-with-the-Force people?_

_Yes, exactly like that,_ she replied silently.

Something in her expression changed, and Kylo let out a short laugh and said “Come here, you,” as he pulled her into an embrace and kissed her.

Stars, it was good to kiss her again. “I missed you,” Kylo said as she pulled away from the kiss, still lingering close enough to rest her hands on his hips.

“It’s only been a month since we last saw each other,” she said. “And besides, we talked yesterday.”

_The Force bond doesn’t count,_ he said silently, but he couldn’t keep a smile off his face. And as for the last time they’d seen each other…

Neither of them had really discussed the strange whiskey-fueled threesome they’d had with Hux. Aside from the awkwardness of letting Hux slip through their fingers because they got distracted in the shower, neither of them wanted to admit how much they’d liked it. Despite everyone’s insistence that “oh this is definitely a one-time thing,” Kylo knew that if the opportunity presented itself again, they would take it. But it wasn’t like that mattered; the galaxy was huge, and they had no leads as to where Hux could possibly have gone.

“I think it still counts,” Rey murmured, bringing Kylo’s attention back to the present.

“It’s not the same,” Kylo said. “I’m not worried that this is going to cut out at an inopportune moment.”

“True,” said Rey. “The Force can be a dick about cockblocking.”

Kylo laughed and called a droid to order some drinks. Once the droid left to put in the drink order, he looked over at Rey, who was staring off in the direction of the bar behind him with a strange expression on her face. “What is it?” he asked, concerned. _Are we in danger?_

“Of all the gin joints, indeed,” she breathed. The emotions Kylo was getting from her only added to his concern. ‘Confusion, shock, and lust’ was a scary combination. “Don’t turn around,” she said quickly. “But I think I see Hux sitting at the bar.”

“What?” Kylo hissed, turning around anyway. She grabbed his chin before he could turn around fully and dragged his gaze back to hers. “What?” he hissed again. He had to look. He had to know for sure if it was him.

“Don’t turn to look,” she hissed. “I don’t want to draw attention to us.”

“You can’t tell me to _not_ look for Hux if you think he’s at this bar,” Kylo growled.

“We need to think about this strategically,” she said.

She had a point. Strategy wasn’t always Kylo’s strong suit, especially where emotional responses were concerned. And oh Force, did he _ever_ have an emotional response to the idea of Hux ending up in the same bar as them.

“Okay, fine,” he said. “What do you suggest?”

 

* * *

 

How had his life come to this? Hux would never in a million years have believed that he’d end up making his way to Coruscant after the epic fall from grace he’d taken. 

This was not the way his life was supposed to go.

He’d withdrawn as many credits from his account as he could a few months ago just in case the sort of situation would arise where he had to disappear completely, but he was running out far more rapidly than he would have liked. He knew he’d have to find work soon. But tonight, he was going to go to the first shitty bar he could find and have a fucking drink.

Hux hadn’t been expecting much when he’d ordered a whiskey at the bar, but this was considerably lower than his expectations. _They have the nerve to call this whiskey?_ he thought as he choked down a sip. He was so absorbed in his mental debate of “should I let this shitty booze go to waste or not” that he barely registered the two people sitting down on either side of him.

“Look what the Loth cat dragged in,” the woman to his left said. Hux nearly dropped his glass. No. No way. There was _no_ way that _she--_

“Funny coincidence running into you here, Hux,” the man to his right said. This time, Hux actually did drop his glass, and it landed with a thunk on the bar, cheap whiskey splashing up the sides of it.

“I would ask if you two were stalking me, but I know for a fact that I’m at the top of the ‘most wanted’ list for both of your organizations,” he said, picking up the glass in an attempt to regain composure. He doubted that it would fool either of the Force-sensitives seated next to him, but he had to try. “Here to arrest me?” He refused to get his hopes up that they had made their presence known to him for any other reason.

There was a pause. Hux assumed they were doing their creepy silent Force-speak thing again. “We’re both off duty tonight,” said Rey.

Hux frowned and turned to look at her. “Off duty? From what?”

She shrugged. “Well, _officially_ , neither of us is here tonight. So maybe, _officially_ , neither are you.”

Hux narrowed his eyes. What was she saying? Surely she wasn’t implying…?

“What she means is, _officially_ , she and I are perfectly normal people who happened to be meeting at a perfectly normal bar,” Ren murmured in his ear. Hux hated the way it made him shiver all over, nerves fluttering low in his stomach.

“So nobody knows you’re here?” Hux said, turning to look Ren in the eye.

Ren shifted uncomfortably. “Well--”

“Are you really going to threaten our lives right now?” Rey said, taking the glass out of his hand to take a sip. It was too familiar of a gesture for Hux’s liking, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to stop her. “Because I have a better idea.” She put the glass back into his hand and leaned in to whisper in his ear. “We never got to say goodbye last time.”

  
It was a good thing that Hux had basically spent his entire lifetime learning how to hide any emotions from his face, otherwise he would have done far worse than inhale sharply. He had tried so hard to push that threesome to somewhere in his mind where he’d never think about it again (after all, it was never going to happen again, so why bother dwelling on it?), but it was impossible to keep his mind off of it when the two people involved were sitting on either side of him. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Hux as he took a sip of whiskey. Yeah, he definitely wasn’t letting this go to waste, even if it tasted like ship fuel. He hated using alcohol to distract himself from his problems, but he had no other coping mechanism for this scenario.

“Your increased heartbeat says otherwise,” Rey said.

Hux raised an eyebrow. There was no way they could sense something like that with the Force, could they? Not that Hux really knew all that much about the Force (even though he’d tried to research it since The Night That Never Happened _just in case_ he happened to run into more Force-sensitives), but he was _pretty_ sure that the Force didn’t work like that. “Bullshit,” he said.

Rey and Ren exchanged glances, and she smirked. Yeah, she was _definitely_ bullshitting him. And anyway, there was no way either of them possibly wanted a repeat of their last encounter. Ren was way too jealous to share Rey, and Rey was too Lightside to want to even get near Hux. ( _Although_ , a sentimental part of his brain figured, _if she got over Ren’s mistakes enough to fall in love with_ him _…_ )

A service droid arrived with drinks for Rey and Ren before scuttling off again. Hux was grateful for the distraction from the train of thought that he’d started to go down. “There’s no way you can tell me that you can’t read my mind, but you can sense my heartrate,” he said.

“When did I ever say we can’t read minds?” asked Ren, taking a sip of his drink.

“The last time we...talked,” Hux finished lamely. He refused to acknowledge anything else that happened that night.

“I believe I said that you were too paranoid to be worth breaking through your mental shields,” said Ren. “I never said that it was impossible.”

Well, fuck. Were they reading his mind now? “I’m not reading your mind now, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Ren said. “And before you say it, I know you just wondered that without having to delve into your brilliant, paranoid head.”

Hux blinked. Ren thought he was brilliant?

“Brilliant, albeit evil,” said Rey.

Ren and Hux both turned to stare at her. “What?” she asked.

“Did you just compliment him?” asked Ren.

Rey paused, her drink halfway to her mouth. “Wow,” she said. “I did.” She shrugged, and gulped the rest of her drink down. Hux was impressed. Either she had somehow managed to find something better than the shitty whiskey he had, or she just had an amazing tolerance for shitty booze. Considering the hell pit she came from, it was probably the latter. “Weird.” She placed the now-empty glass down on the bar and looked at Ren, but she didn’t say anything. Judging by Ren’s reaction, they were having another one of their weird Force moments.

“How can you say you can’t read minds when you two are clearly having some sort of silent conversation without me?” Hux said, embarrassed by how whiny it sounded.

“It’s a Force thing,” said Ren. “You wouldn’t understand.”

Great. Now he was feeling like a third wheel again. Fucking Force-sensitives.

“Don’t feel bad,” Rey said, reaching up to pat Hux on the cheek.

He pulled his head away quickly, and whacked Ren in the face. He hadn’t realized that Ren was standing so close to him. “Don’t touch me like that,” he hissed.

“How should I touch you, then?” she asked, a wicked grin on her face.

Hux swallowed nervously. There was no good answer to this question. _Fuck_. This was definitely some sort of trap. Most likely, they were attempting to confuse him so that they could arrest him easily. But even if they weren’t…

What would happen if he admitted how much time he’d spent thinking about them during the past month?

“I have some ideas,” Ren said, reaching up to run his fingers through Hux’s hair. Hux had let it grow out a bit, and he’d stopped styling it into place every morning. It wasn’t worth it to look for hair gel while he was on the run. “Your hair looks good like this, Hux,” Ren said. Hux closed his eyes and let out a sigh that he immediately regretted. They weren’t going to get in his head that easily.

( _Too late,_ some stupid part of his brain said. _They’ve been there for a while._ If he was being honest with himself, he’d been obsessed with Ren on some level for some time now. But ever since that night, he’d also spent a lot of time thinking about why Ren was so obsessed with _her_. He definitely saw the appeal. The whole thing made him uncomfortable, which really pissed him off.)

His eyelids fluttered open as he felt Rey press something into his hand. “Tell you what,” she whispered in his ear. “Here’s where we’re staying. Room 1502. You’re welcome to join us.” She nipped his ear, then stood up and held out her hand for Ren to take. Hux was still trying to process the ear nip (fuck, that felt _good_ ) when he felt Ren kiss his cheek before standing up to take Rey’s hand. Hux watched them walk about together, glued to his seat.

“What the actual _fuck_ just happened?” he said out loud to no one.

 

* * *

 

“Do you think he’s actually going to take us up on the offer?” Rey asked as she shut the door to the hotel room behind her. “You know him better than I do.” 

“I think it’s a fifty-fifty chance,” Ben said. “He definitely wants to, but he’s so uptight and strict about everything that I doubt he ever gives into things he wants. I don’t think any of us are particularly good at handling emotions.”

Rey didn’t respond. A question was forming in her mind, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to go there yet. Now wasn’t the time to discuss hypothetical alternate timelines.

“Why do you care so much?” Ben asked as he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. He didn’t sound accusatory. Just curious.

“I don’t know,” Rey admitted. “It’s just, you and him, you worked together for so long. And I…”

“You don’t know where you fit in with us,” Ben finished. He kissed her softly. “If you’re wondering if I have any regrets about the events that led to you and I meeting, I don’t. At all. Nothing I do or do not feel for Hux changes that.”

“So you _do_ feel something for him.” Rey wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

Ben sighed. “I don’t know. The sex was great. That’s about it.”

“I do not disagree with you there,” she said, putting her arms around his neck and reaching up to kiss him. She didn’t have a lot of experience with sex or relationships, but there had definitely been some sort of ‘click’ that night. (It was different from the ‘click’ she had with Ben, but then again, there was nothing in the universe that was going to be the same as her relationship with Ben. She wouldn’t have had it any other way.) She wondered if that was what people were talking about when they talked about having “chemistry” with someone else, and _then_ she wondered if having “chemistry” meant anything more than sexual attraction.

Ben one of his hands up so that it was holding her upper back, then he reached up to pull single bun out. She’d forgone her usual look in favor of something a little different, just in case any rouge First Order spies were looking for someone with her signature hairstyle. “I like the way you look with your hair down,” he murmured as he ran his fingers through it.

“It’s an inconvenient style for fixing engines,” she said. She pulled him in for another kiss. He trailed his hand down to cup her ass, pulling her closer to him. She deepened the kiss, then trailed kisses down his neck, suddenly desperate to taste him.

There was a knock at the door. Ben and Rey sprang apart, suddenly nervous. What if this wasn’t a good idea, after all? What if Hux was there to kill them, or what if it made things irreparably weird between Ben and Rey?

_It’s too late to have second thoughts now,_ she told herself as she walked over to open the door. Ben seemed rooted to the floor, even more nervous than Rey was.

Rey opened the door and was greeted with a pair of hands reaching for her face to pull her in for a kiss. She felt a flash of surprise, but by the time her brain caught up to what was happening, Hux was pulling away to walk towards Ben to do the same to him. Rey locked the door behind him, heart pounding from the shock of a very sudden, surprisingly passionate kiss.

Hux pulled away and said “If this is a trap, I am going to kill you guys.”

“Hello to you, too,” said Ben.

“Not a trap,” Rey said as she walked over. “Just a lucky coincidence.”

“I still don’t believe that you two didn’t stalk me here with your creepy Force powers,” said Hux as he ran his fingers through Ben’s hair, unintentionally echoing the same thing Ben had just been doing to Rey.

“We can’t even stalk each other with the Force,” Ben said. “Not that I’ve tried, of course,” he said quickly as he saw Rey’s expression.

Rey and Hux exchanged glances. “Has he always been this obsessive?” she asked as she stepped closer to them. She placed a hand on either man’s waist, not quite inserting herself between them, but letting them know that she was there. 

“Unfortunately, yes,” said Hux. “Ren has always been an ‘all or nothing’ person.”

“Please,” said Ben. “Like you aren’t the most hyper-focused person in the--galaxy,” he said. Rey knew that he had been about to say ‘First Order.’ Thankfully, Hux didn’t seem to pick up on that fact, otherwise things would have gotten real tense real quick.

“‘All or nothing’ isn’t a bad thing,” she asked as she trailed her fingers around to their lower backs. “It has its uses.” She tilted her head up to kiss Hux’s neck, silently coordinating with Ben. He leaned forward and caught Hux’s lips in his a moment later, placing one hand on Hux’s cheek and the other on Rey’s shoulder.

Rey had already been tingling with anticipation ever since she’d landed on Coruscant and felt Ben’s Force signature winking at her, but finally being locked in a room with Ben and Hux was making her body heat up. Stars, they hadn’t even begun to take any clothing off and she was already aching to feel skin against skin. Damn them both for triggering her sex drive so quickly.

She didn’t know if it was really fair that she and Ben could coordinate nonvocally and Hux couldn’t, but he didn’t seem to mind too much as Ben moved his hands to start undoing the buttons on Hux’s shirt, and Rey slipped her hands underneath to run her hands over his back. Hux responded by tugging on the hem of Ben’s shirt, and Ben obliged by pausing to remove his shirt, Rey’s hands picking up where Ben’s had left off on Hux’s shirt. Ben made to remove Rey’s shirt as she undid the last button on Hux’s, and if Rey hadn’t been so desperate to get their clothes off, she would have laughed at the way they’d coordinated that so well.

The next thing she knew, she was being pressed in between Hux and Ben, her back pressed against Hux’s chest as he trailed his hands up along her sides to cup her breasts while Ben captured her lips with his and ran his hands through her hair. She gasped as she felt Hux’s thumbs flick over her nipples, and Ben tugged on her hair lightly as he moved his lips to nip at her ears and neck.

Force, they weren’t even fully undressed and she was already so wet, and she could tell that they were just as turned on as she was.

She shifted her hips so that she was grinding against Hux, making him gasp in her ear, and she ran her fingers up Ben’s chest, making him shiver as she scratched lightly. He responded by reaching around Rey to pull both her and Hux closer to him. Rey couldn’t tell if she felt breathless because of how tightly she was held between them, or if it was just that she was so keyed up that she was having trouble breathing.

She suddenly needed to feel more skin-on-skin, and she moved her hands down to fumble with the waistband of Ben’s trousers.

Hux broke apart and pushed Rey and Ben onto the bed. “You want ‘all or nothing’?” he asked. “You’ve got it.”

 

* * *

 

“Why do you call Ren ‘Ben’?” Hux asked as he played with Rey’s hair. They had finally caught their breath enough to talk, which was something they had skipped last time. Kylo was surprised by how much he liked the pillow talk.

“Because that’s his name,” she said. “Why do you call him ‘Ren’?”

“Why do neither of you call me ‘Kylo’?” Kylo asked.

“I only ever use last names,” Hux said. “I would use yours, but I don’t know it.”

There was a pause. Kylo felt a pang of sadness coming from Rey. “I don’t have one,” she said quietly.

“How do you not have a last name?”

“I don’t know who my family is. Was.”

Kylo didn’t know what he expected Hux’s reaction to be, but it wasn’t a snort. “Shitty family? Traumatic childhood? Welcome to the fucking club.” It wasn’t the most sympathetic response, but Hux wasn’t wrong. All three of them carried entire shiploads of baggage. Either it was the reason why they would work out, or it was the reason they were going to crash and burn as hard as a Death Star explosion.

Wait. Since when did Kylo care about the _three_ of them being a thing?

“You can have one of mine,” Kylo said, trying to lighten the mood. “I have five, and I don’t want four of them.” _Naberrie, Skywalker, Organa, Solo, Ren._

Hux and Rey paused. “I don’t know how to respond to that,” Hux said.

“I don’t, either,” said Rey. She leaned over and kissed Kylo. There were implications in Kylo’s sentence that he hadn’t meant to say, he realized. Even though he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Rey, he knew that they weren’t ready to have that conversation yet. War first. Marriage proposals later.

“I am _not_ going to start calling you ‘Ren,’” said Hux. “One Ren is bad enough.”

Kylo reached over Rey to swat Hux on the shoulder. “You’re only saying that because you can’t handle two of me.”

“No, _you_ can’t handle two of you. You’d tear yourselves apart. A Ren and a Rey, though…” Kylo didn’t think he’d ever seen Hux smile. He hadn’t realized until that moment that he had even _wanted_ to see it, let alone be the cause of it.

“Just as long as you don’t go back to ‘The Fucking Scavenger,’ we’re good,” said Rey, rolling to lay on her back. She closed her eyes, a grin on her face. Kylo moved closer and kissed her shoulder before throwing an arm over her stomach. Hux was laying far enough from Rey that Kylo’s fingertips just barely grazed his stomach, and Kylo had the insane thought that he wanted Hux to move in closer.

_What, you want to make him feel more included?_ Rey said down the bond. Kylo hadn’t meant to be projecting his thoughts like that, but Rey didn’t seem to bothered by it.

_I feel weird third-wheeling him._

_I don’t know if he even_ wants _to be more included in this._

Hux sighed, breaking Rey’s and Kylo’s concentration. “You guys are doing it again, aren’t you.”

“Doing what?” said Kylo.

“That silent Force talk thing you guys do.”

_I think he wants to be more included_ , said Rey. Aloud, she said, “Look, if you want to be included, make the effort to get in on this post-sex snuggle.” Kylo bit back a laugh as he saw Hux’s facial expression. He loved watching Hux struggle with Rey’s snark.

“I don’t do, as you put it, ‘post-sex snuggling,’” Hux said icily.

“You can either complain about getting third-wheeled, or you can participate. Your choice.” _This is the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had,_ she added silently. Kylo could tell that she was trying just as hard as he was to hold back laughter.

Hux didn’t respond. There was a tense moment where Kylo thought that he was going to get up and leave them both. And then--

“Fine,” Hux said as he shifted so that he was pressed up against Rey’s side. He was still visibly tense, so with some non-vocal agreement with Kylo, Rey turned on her side so that her back was pressed up against Kylo and she was facing Hux, an arm thrown over his waist. Kylo couldn’t see her face, but he knew that she was wearing an expression that challenged Hux. He shifted his arm so that it was draped over Hux’s waist as well for good measure.

“For the record,” Rey said, “I would just like to state that _he_ is the one who usually initiates the post-sex snuggling.”

“You don’t want me here?” said Hux. He had the neutral emotionless tone he usually used when speaking, but Kylo could sense the rejection underneath it. Since when did Hux like Rey?

Hell, since when did _any_ of them like each other?

“I didn’t say that,” she said. “I’m saying that this is coming from both of us.”

Hux blinked, the only sign of emotion he was letting himself show. “What’s in this for you?” he asked suddenly.

“For me?” said Rey.

“How can you possibly forgive me for everything I’ve done? Hell, how can you possibly forgive _him_ for everything _he’s_ done?”

Kylo felt a spark of anger at that, but Rey spoke before he could. “He killed Snoke to save me. What have you ever done for me?”

_Uh-oh._ _Rey, I told him--_

“What do you mean, _he_ killed Snoke?” Hux said, pushing himself up to glare at Kylo. “You told me _she_ killed Snoke!”

_Oh, kriff,_ Rey said silently. _I didn’t mean to start something._

“Are you really angry that he’s gone?” said Kylo, pushing himself up to glare back.

Hux opened his mouth to say something, but then he deflated and flopped back down next to Rey. “No, actually,” he said. “Thank you for killing that monster.”

“Rey helped,” Kylo said quickly. “It was a joint effort.”

“And anyway,” Rey said. “He knows he’s done terrible things. He wants to atone for them. Do _you_?” Kylo winced, but it wasn’t like Rey was wrong about those things.

Hux kissed Rey’s forehead, but he didn’t say anything. They lay in silence for while until Rey’s stomach let out a rumble too loud to be ignored.

“What was _that_?” asked Hux as Rey blushed.

“Hungry?” Kylo asked her. He realized he was hungry, too. He couldn’t tell if that was because he was actually hungry, or if he was only getting that because of the bond with Rey. Either way, they needed food.

“Yes,” she said.

Kylo really didn’t want to get up, but he knew that she’d spent most of her life struggling to find food, and he wasn’t going to let that happen any longer if he could help it. “I’ll go find us something to eat,” he said. He gave her one last shoulder kiss before he rolled out of bed and pulled his clothes off the floor. “I think there’s a take-out restaurant on the ground floor. Any requests?”

“Something sweet,” Rey said.

“I know I said this last time, but please don’t kill each other while I’m gone. Rey, don’t let him run off again. Tie him down if you have to.” Kylo smirked as Rey’s face broke out into a wicked grin.

“I’d like to see you try,” said Hux.

“Would you now,” said Rey, pushing herself up to loom over him. Kylo felt a pang of jealousy. Surely they wouldn’t...without him…?

Instead of responding to that thought nonverbally as he expected she would, Rey paused and crawled over to where Kylo was standing half-dressed at the edge of the bed and kissed him. “We won’t do anything without you,” she said. “Right, Hux?”

“I’m still half-convinced that this is a ruse to lower my defenses so that you can arrest me.”

“I won’t hesitate to tie you up, but it’s not so that we can arrest you.” Kylo didn’t miss the slight widening of Hux’s eyes as Rey spoke. Tying Hux up...that was something to think about later on. Hell, Kylo wouldn’t mind if Rey tied _him_ up, come to think of it.

She bit her lip and smiled, catching that train of thought. “And on that note,” Kylo said. “I’ll be back in a bit.” He threw on a jacket, grabbed a room key, and left his girlfriend and his maybe-former-nemesis in bed together.

 

* * *

 

_Well, this is awkward,_ Hux thought as he watched Ren walk out the door. He wasn’t usually lost for words, but something about Ren and Rey threw him for a loop. This had happened last time they were together, too.

“Seriously, how would you feel about being tied up?” Rey asked as she crawled back over to where Hux was laying.

“No.” He already lacked control around these two as it was. He didn’t need to give them any more power over him.

She grinned. “Noted,” she said. “Think we could tie Ben up?”

Hux felt his face heat up. Why was she acting like this was going to be a thing? Hux knew that as soon as the morning came, they’d all three walk out of there and pretend that it had never happened again. Why was she pretending otherwise? He couldn’t let himself consider the possibility of this turning into a thing.

When he didn’t respond, her expression turned serious. “Did Ben really tell you that I killed Snoke?”

“He said that you disabled him, killed Snoke, and killed the entire Praetorian guard. I thought it sounded a little far-fetched--no offense--but then he Force-choked me when I tried to question him on it.”

Rey snorted. “Of course he did,” she said.

“What made him decide to kill Snoke for you?” Hux asked softly. “Why were you even on the ship in the first place?”

Rey didn’t answer right away. “I think...well, it’s complicated,” she said. “It’s not all my story to tell. I didn’t know he was going to kill Snoke. I don’t even know if _he_ knew he was going to kill Snoke. But Snoke tried to make him kill me, and it ironically gave Ben the opening to take the killing blow.” She gave Hux a small smile. “What followed was the most intense, sexually-charged fight I’ve ever had.”

“Sexually-charged…? No, I don’t want to know.” What could _possibly_ make her describe a fight like that? “You guys have the weirdest relationship.”

She scoffed. “Like you and he don’t have a weird relationship,” she said.

“He and I don’t have a relationship. Nor do you and I.” Hux tried as hard as he could to make himself believe the words.

“That’s a lie, and you know it. I’m not going to pretend to know whatever history you guys have, but I know that there’s something there. Even before you kidnapped me, I got the sense that there was something there, even if Ben didn’t realize it."

Hux blinked in surprise. How the hell had she picked up on it when Ren hadn’t?

“And as for you and me…” she continued. She looked at him, but she didn’t continue that sentence. Was she waiting for him to say something?

“You made me question my sexuality,” he blurted. It was the best she was going to get from him.

She looked amused. “Really?” She leaned closer. “And what was the answer?”

Was he allowed to kiss her? Would that be weird? (Although, if it was going to piss Ren off…) Her eyes flicked to his lips before meeting his again. (If it was going to piss Ren off, that was just a bonus, he rationalized.) He leaned in and kissed her, closing the gap between them as he reached up to run a hand through her hair. She placed a hand on his waist and scooted closer, but before the kiss could go any further, she stopped.

“Just so that we’re clear,” she said. “I am _not_ leaving Ben for you.”

“I’m not asking you to,” said Hux. “Hell, I don’t even _want_ you to.”

“Then what do you want?”

Hux paused. Good question. What _did_ he want? “I don’t want either of you without the other.”

Rey blinked. “What does _that_ mean?”

“I want both of you, or nothing,” Hux said. “I like the way Ren is when he’s with you. He’s intense. He always has been since I’ve known him. But with you, he’s a little more...mellow,” he said, trying to find the right word. “A little less terrifying.”

Rey smirked. “He’s still pretty terrifying sometimes,” she said.

Hux smirked back at her. “You two also look really good together,” he said. “You make a very, _very_ good team.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” she said, leaning in to give him another kiss.

There was one more thing Hux needed to know, though. “But seriously,” he said. “How are you okay with being with Ren, knowing all of the bad things he’s done?” What Hux really meant was _would you be okay with me, knowing all of the bad things I’ve done?_ He had no idea why it was so important to him that he hear the answer. (Okay, that was a lie. He _did_ have an idea, he just didn’t want to think about it.)

“I think that maybe you were just another victim of Snoke’s abuse,” she said. “I may be totally off, but Snoke...well, you’ll have to ask Ben. It’s his story to tell, not mine. And maybe Snoke did something similar to you.”

Hux had always had the impression that Snoke had his talons dug deeper into Ren than anyone realized, but it was still jarring to hear it confirmed like this. “Maybe I’m just evil, honestly,” he said.

“Maybe,” said Rey. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t be redeemed.”

Oh. _This_ attitude was probably what Snoke and Ren had been referring to when they said ‘light side.’ Hux suddenly understood why Ren had been so tempted by the light, if it included Rey. He still barely knew her, and he found himself wanting her approval. What the fuck was _wrong_ with him?

Feelings were the worst.

“In any case,” Rey said, pushing herself up off the bed, “I am kriffing hungry, and as soon as Ben gets back, I am attacking that food. And then maybe we can all go for round two, while we’re all here.”

Hours later, Hux lay awake, Ren on his left side, and Rey curled up on Ren’s other side. Rey was deep asleep, judging from the even rise and fall of her chest, but Ren seemed to be having as much trouble sleeping as Hux was.

“Do you think that something would have happened between us if Rey hadn’t come along?” Ren whispered.

Hux hadn’t been expecting Ren to ask that, even though he’d been wondering the same thing himself. “Do you?” he asked.

“I asked you first.” Typical Ren, making Hux do all the hard work.

“Honestly?” whispered Hux. “I don’t know. Maybe. But I think we’d have needed a catalyst anyway. Maybe we always needed someone else.”

Ren shifted so that he was laying on his side, facing Hux. “Did you ever think about trying to take down Snoke?”

Hux paused. He spent a lot of time thinking about that in the first few weeks after Snoke’s death, but he hadn’t given it much thought since. “I thought I was doing what was right when I was General,” he finally said.

“That doesn’t answer the question.”

“I don’t know. I’m not sad he’s gone. The galaxy is definitely better off for it, even if it means that you’re in charge of the First Order now. You’ve never been good at leading.”

“Fuck off.”

“ _You_ fuck off. You know I’m a better leader than you. I didn’t think you ever even _wanted_ to be Supreme Leader.”

“Honestly?” said Ren. “I didn’t. I wanted Rey to join me. I didn’t want to do it without her by my side. Then things just happened so quickly and before I knew it, Snoke was dead, Rey had rejected me, you were about to kill me, and I was declaring myself Supreme Leader. Like hell I was going to give that up to you.”

Hux thought about it. Rey did mellow Ren out, but she didn’t seem like she had any interest in being a leader. She’d spent too much of her life on her own, only looking out for herself. “Idiots,” he finally said. “You and I should have teamed up ages ago. I bet she would have said yes if _I’d_ asked her.”

“You don’t know that. You barely know her!” Ren’s eyes widened as he realized how loudly he’d spoken, and he shifted his gaze over to where Rey lay. She didn’t wake up, so he relaxed and turned back at Hux.

“You met her once because you _kidnapped_ her, and a week later you were asking her to _rule the galaxy_ with you.” Which was just like Ren: batshit crazy and obsessed with one of the only people brave or crazy enough to stand up to him. No wonder he’d fallen in love with Rey.

“We have a connection,” Ren mumbled. “She gets me.”

“And I don’t?” The words slipped out of Hux’s mouth before he could stop them.

“Do you even want to?” Ren was looking at him with such intensity that Hux had to look away.

_That’s the question, isn’t it?_ Hux didn’t know how to answer that. Any relationship the three of them had was doomed from the start, given their respective political positions. Hux still had no idea how Ren and Rey made it work from opposite sides of the war. (How did they even communicate like that? There was no way they could be in touch without someone else finding out about it.)

“Does it even matter?” he finally asked. When Ren didn’t answer, Hux rolled over so that he was facing away from Ren. He lay awake for a long time before drifting into an uneasy sleep.

 

* * *

 

Rey woke up to the sound of the door clicking shut. She pushed herself up, trying to figure out why that was a bad sign. Ben was still in bed, lying asleep next to her. Which meant that... 

“Kriff!” she said. “Ben, wake up. Hux snuck out. _Again._ ”

Ben muttered something sleepily, but he didn’t seem to think it was as urgent as Rey did. She scrambled out of bed and threw on the first set of clothes she could find, not caring that the shirt wasn’t hers. “Come on,” she said. “Get up. We need to catch him.”

“Don’t worry about it, Rey,” he said, not bothering to open his eyes. “Come back to bed. It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not fine,” she said as she tugged a boot on her foot. “He’s going to get away, and we need to arrest him. We can figure out who has a greater claim to him once we arrest him.”

Rey knew she shouldn’t have been surprised that Hux was using the opportunity to run off, but she’d thought that maybe, after their conversation yesterday, he would at least say goodbye...but then again, considering how bad the man was at handling emotional intimacy, she should have expected as much.

Plus, she couldn’t really blame him for wanting to resist arrest. And deep down, she didn’t _really_ want to arrest him. It was just the right thing to do, given the whole war thing.

“Rey,” said Ben as he pushed himself up. “Relax. I don’t think he really wants to stay away. Not anymore.”

Rey paused, her foot halfway in her boot. “Did you guys talk last night?”

“Yeah, after you fell asleep.” He looked a little guilty, like he was afraid that Rey would be angry for not including her in that conversation. She wasn’t. She knew that they had their own stuff to work through, and she wanted to give them the space to do that.

“How can you be sure that he’s going to come back to us?” _Us._ Her eyes widened as she realized what she’d said. _Us._ Oh, kriff. She wanted it to be an ‘us’ thing. All three of them.

Ben caught where her thoughts were going, but he just smiled at her. “He thinks we should have teamed up to take Snoke down earlier.”

“Seriously?”

“He also thinks that…” Ben paused. Rey could tell he was struggling for words. “I asked him if he thought that he and I would have happened if you hadn’t come along.” Rey’s breath caught in her throat. She had been wondering the same thing, but she’d been too afraid of the answer to ask Ben.

“He said we would have needed a catalyst anyway,” Ben continued. “I don’t think he and I would have happened if you hadn’t come along, either.”

_Oh._ Rey didn’t speak for a moment, trying to organize her thoughts. She still wasn’t sure what it all meant. There was no doubt in her mind that she loved Ben, and there was nothing in the galaxy that could replace the connection they shared. But where Ben was all a raging inferno of thoughts, feelings, and actions, Hux was cold, dark, deadly intensity. It wasn’t any less passionate than what she shared with Ben, but it was the complete opposite, and now that she’d experienced it, she didn’t want to let it go.

She didn’t love Hux like she loved Ben. But she didn’t know if Ben loved him, and there was something between them that she didn’t want to destroy. And if Hux loved Ben as much as Rey did, she was happy to share that with him. In a weird way, she liked the idea of knowing that there was another person out there who loved Ben just like she did, and it was just a bonus that she could be with him, too.

“He told me he wants to be with both of us together,” she finally said. “Not just you and him. Not even me and him. Me and you and him.”

“What do you want?” Ben asked.

“I want you,” Rey said, kicking the boot off her foot and crawling back on the bed to lie next to Ben. “And I don’t want him without you.”

“I don’t want him without you, either,” Ben murmured, leaning in to kiss her.

“But you do want him,” Rey said softly.

“So do you.”

Kriff. If things hadn’t been complicated enough before…”Wait a minute,” she said as she started to consider the logistics of their relationship. “How is he going to find us again? I doubt he’s going to slum around Coruscant for the rest of his life. You and I can always talk to each other. What about him?”

Ben gave her a smug smile. “Oh, he’ll be able to contact us,” he said. “I slipped an encrypted comm into the pocket of his jacket earlier. Untraceable, and I have the only other device attuned to its frequency. A hundred credits says he lasts a week before he gives in and uses it.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that they have control over the Force bond, but at the time that I wrote this, the TLJ novelization hadn't been released so that wasn't canon (and anyway, it's funnier to make them get cockblocked by the Force). Related: I know Kylo and Rey can’t sense things like body temperature or heartbeat through the Force; they’re just messing with poor non-Force-sensitive Hux. Also related: forgive my loose interpretation of canon; it’s possible that I’m misremembering something from TLJ (my memory sucks).
> 
> I have no idea if such a communication device exists in the Star Wars universe, but we’re going to pretend that it does for the sake of this fic.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're sitting there wondering "is this meant to be taken seriously," the answer is "no, nothing I post on this site is ever meant to be taken seriously." If you'd like to let me know what you think, hit me up on [tumblr](https://radioactivesaltghoul.tumblr.com)!


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